Former Vitter chief of staff signs American Chemistry Council

FORMER VITTER CHIEF OF STAFF SIGNS AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL: The American Chemistry Council has hired Kyle Ruckert, former Sen. David Vitter’s longtime chief of staff, to lobby for them in Washington through his firm, Bold Strategies. It’s Ruckert’s first federal lobbying client. He’s lobbied for the trade group in Louisiana since last year, according to state lobbying records. He joins his old boss in lobbying for the trade group in Washington; Vitter, now a co-chairman of Mercury, lobbies for the American Chemistry Council, as well as Yuhuang Chemical.

MORE K STREET DRAMA: Several members of the Majority Group are eyeing the exits to start their own all-Democratic lobbying shop, according to a source familiar with the situation. Among those leaving the firm are Hadley Sosnoff, Hayden Rogers, Scott Eckart and Jed Bhuta. Stay tuned for more details.

FACEBOOK ADDS ANOTHER: “Facebook added yet another lobbyist to its roster of outside consultants — this time a former staffer of Vice President Joe Biden — as the company contends with Washington lawmakers over the role of its platform in Russian efforts to sway the U.S. election,” POLITICO’s Steven Overly reports. “Sudafi Henry of TheGROUP DC will tackle a wide range of issues surrounding congressional investigations into Russian meddling and the resulting fallout, including online advertising disclosure and so-called ‘platform integrity,’ according to a recent filing. Henry was formerly the director of legislative affairs for Biden, helping the Obama administration pass the Affordable Care Act and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in its early years.” Full story.

DEMOCRATIC MEGADONOR STEVE MOSTYN HAS DIED: "Steve Mostyn, a top Democratic donor and prominent Houston trial lawyer, has died," The Texas Tribune's Morgan Smith and Jay Root report. "He was 46. According to a statement released by his wife, Amber, Mostyn died Wednesday after 'a sudden onset and battle with a mental health issue.' She did not disclose the cause of death." Mostyn "and his wife, also an attorney, have long been considered the state’s most powerful Democratic backers, spending millions on Democratic campaigns in Texas and beyond." Full story.

ANNALS OF ASTROTURFING: “James Short, a retired deputy fire chief, is the founder of an organization called Protect Our Pensions,” Bloomberg News’ Benjamin Elgin and Zachary Mider report. “At least that’s what it says on the group’s website. But ask Short about his role at Protect Our Pensions, formed last year to oppose efforts to push endowments, foundations and pension funds to divest their holdings in fossil-fuel companies, and he has a different take. Standing in the doorway of a brick bungalow in southeast Washington, D.C., in August, a Cadillac with the license plate 'Short 1' parked outside, he refused to answer questions before shutting the door. A follow-up call elicited this response: 'That is not me. I do not know who is putting those blogs out.'"

— It’s not clear who’s behind Protect Our Pensions. “But there are clues pointing to the involvement of DCI Group LLC, a Washington public affairs firm known for its work with the energy industry and for building grass-roots coalitions that sometimes obscure their funders.” Full story.

TRUMP TAPS LOBBYIST FOR ENERGY DEPARTMENT: President Donald Trump will nominate Melissa Burnison as the Energy Department’s head of congressional affairs, POLITICO’s Darius Dixon reports. “Burnison, who will be nominated as the DOE assistant secretary for congressional intergovernmental affairs, is [the Nuclear Energy Institute]’s director of federal affairs. Before NEI, she was a senior advisor at [the Energy Department] and with the House Natural Resources Committee.” Full story.

IF YOU MISSED IT: POLITICO’s Nancy Cook reports that influential trade groups aren’t attacking provisions they don’t like in the Republican tax proposal (in public, anyway) to avoid derailing the bill entirely. “The kumbaya attitude emanates in large part from a sense of desperation among Republicans who believe the party needs to show voters and donors a concrete victory ahead of the 2018 midterms or risk losing control of one or both chambers of Congress, say strategists and conservative activists. ‘It is kind of unreal,’ said one Republican lobbyist. ‘People know this is a freight train coming, and they are doing everything they can to get their stuff on it rather than stand in front of it.’” Full story.

CALL IT THE BEER BREAK: “The revised Senate tax legislation unveiled late Tuesday includes tax breaks for the beer and citrus industries, despite the GOP’s pledges to avoid carve-outs for special interests,” POLITICO’s Catherine Boudreau reports. “The benefits for U.S. brewers and beer importers would last for two years, and are nearly identical to those included in the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (S. 236 (115)) reintroduced this year and backed by trade groups like the Beer Institute, Brewers Association, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and Wine Institute.”Full story.

JOBS REPORT:

— Bridget Walsh is joining Boehringer Ingelheim as vice president of government affairs and public policy, overseeing work at the federal and state levels. She comes from Pfizer, where she’s vice president for federal government relations.

— WeWork is adding Mary Rutherford Jennings to its public affairs team, where she’ll focus on the Mid-Atlantic. She was previously director of surrogate communications for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

— Rhett Buttle starting a consulting firm, Public Private Strategies, and also joining the Aspen Institute as a senior fellow. He was previously traveling the world and before that worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Katie Wonnenberg will join the firm as a principal while continuing to work for the National Association for the Self-Employed, where she’s vice president of government relations and public affairs.

ON THE CALENDAR: Members of the Asset Leadership Network are on the Hill today meeting with the members of the Joint Economic Committee, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on federal asset management issues. The fly-in was organized by the Chwat Group.

About The Author

Theodoric Meyer covers lobbying for POLITICO and writes the POLITICO Influence newsletter. He previously covered the 2016 campaign for POLITICO and worked as a reporting fellow for ProPublica in New York. He was a lead reporter on ProPublica’s “After the Flood” series on the federal government’s troubled flood insurance program, which won the Deadline Club Award for Local Reporting. He’s a graduate of McGill University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.